'You're not doomed': It's never too late to change your life and get healthy, says experts

IT IS never too late to kick bad habits and make simple lifestyle changes to help beat heart disease, experts have revealed.

Picking up good habits such as exercing is beneficial for your heart [GETTY: PIC POSED BY MODELS]

Scientists have found that ditching an unhealthy way of life in middle age can control and even reverse the natural progression of coronary artery disease.

In fact, they showed that quitting smoking, cutting back on drink and ending a coach potato lifestyle by taking up exercise and eating a healthier diet can undo heart damage and slash the risk of heart attack.

But people who drop healthy habits and pick up more bad habits as they age are at risk of doing significant damage to their heart health.

Professor Bonnie Spring, who led the study at Northwestern University in Chicago, said: "It's not too late.

"You're not doomed if you've hit young adulthood and acquired some bad habits.

"You can still make a change and it will have a benefit for your heart.

"But if you don't keep up a healthy lifestyle, you'll see the evidence in terms of your risk of heart disease."

The researchers said changes made in your 30s and even 40s can have a big impact.

Scientists studied healthy lifestyle behaviours and coronary artery calcification and thickening among the more than 5,000 participants in a coronary artery risk study who were assessed at ages 18 to 30 then 20 years later.

The healthy lifestyle factors assessed were not being overweight/obese, being a non-smoker and physically active and having low alcohol intake and a healthy diet.

By young adulthood, less than one in 10 of study participants reported all five healthy lifestyle behaviours.

Smoking and drinking are bad habits that should be ditched [GETTY]

You can still make a change and it will have a benefit for your heart

Professor Bonnie Spring

At the 20-year mark, about 25 per cent of the study participants had added at least one healthy lifestyle behaviour.

Each increase in healthy lifestyle factors was associated with reduced odds of detectable coronary artery calcification, according to the results published in the journal Circulation.

Prof Spring said: "This finding is important because it helps to debunk two myths held by some health care professionals.

"The first is that it's nearly impossible to change patients' behaviours.

"Yet, we found that 25 per cent of adults made healthy lifestyle changes on their own.

"The second myth is that the damage has already been done - adulthood is too late for healthy lifestyle changes to reduce the risk of developing coronary artery disease. Clearly, that's incorrect.

"Adulthood is not too late for healthy behaviour changes to help the heart."

But the researchers found that 40 per cent of their sample lost healthy lifestyle factors and acquired more bad habits as they aged.

"Adulthood isn't a 'safe period' when one can abandon healthy habits without doing damage to the heart.

"A healthy lifestyle requires upkeep to be maintained."

Among the healthy lifestyle habits recommended by the research team were to keep a healthy body weight, not smoking, doing 30 minutes of moderate to vigorous activity five times a week, having no more than one alcoholic drink a day for women or no more than two for men and eating a healthy diet, high in fibre, low in salt with lots of fruit and vegetables.